Post Office Hearing Rescheduled

August 12, 1999|By DEBORAH PETERSEN SWIFT; Courant Staff Writer

COLUMBIA — A public hearing on the proposed new post office that was postponed Tuesday night has been rescheduled to Aug. 31.

The planning and zoning commission delayed a hearing on the proposal at the request of Kenneth J. Baer, a New York developer who is under contract with the U.S. Postal Service to build the post office.

The rescheduled hearing is slated for 7:30 p.m. in Yeomans Hall, said Martha Fraenkel, land-use planner and zoning enforcement officer.

Baer said Wednesday that he asked for the delay because he is waiting for the postal service to act on his request to revise the plan, which was rejected by the zoning board of appeals last month.

Baer is proposing to buy the site of the current post office, next door to the proposed site. The appeals board ruled that the proposed site is too small for the 7,400-square-foot building Baer is proposing. By adding the land next door, Baer hopes to appease the zoning officials.

Baer has put in an offer for the current post office site, which the postal service leases from a local woman, Grace Cooper. He has drawn up a contract to buy the land that is contigent upon the postal service approving the plan, and said he expects to have a contract signed before the Aug. 31 meeting.

The postal service is currently reviewing Baer's request, Jim Cari, a spokesman for the postal service, said Wednesday. ``We're evaluating that proposal at this time,'' he said. He would not say when a decision is expected, but Baer is hoping for one soon.

``I'm waiting for that because I have to do a substantial amount of work to modify the site plan to have a complete application for the planning and zoning commission,'' he said.

Baer has said that he plans to build the post office no matter what, and recently sent a letter to town officials saying that while he is attempting to comply with local regulations, they do not apply to this project. He argues that the supremacy clause in the U.S. Constitution says that when there is conflict between federal and local law, federal law overrules.

Columbia officials have fought to keep the post office in the town center, passing special regulations allowing it to be built in a residential zone.